Fundraising
Ask Almost no one likes asking for money. When candidates run for office, their vision is on the glamour aspect, making speeches, ripping the opponent to shreds in debates, and cutting TV commercials. But money is what wins elections. While financial underdogs do occasionally pull off upsets, money is the single most dominating factor in the vast majority of campaigns. In virtually every race that Libertarians have won, they have outspent their opponents. Money gives you communication with the voters. Time spent on fundraising will enable you to reach more voters more often than the same amount of time spent in other methods of campaigning. Fifty to sixty percent of the campaigns and the candidate's time should be spent raising money. Unlike scheduling and other detail work, fundraising is not something left up to a manager or committee. The candidate must be involved in a major way. After all, that's who the people are supporting. Contributors are more likely to give money to a good person with a good idea than they are to a good idea alone. Candidates must have enough belief in themselves to ask for financial demonstrations of personal support, and in the Libertarian philosophy to ask people to make generous investments in their own personal freedom. You are not begging for a handout If you can't ask for money to advance what you believe in, does it mean you don't really believe that Liberty is worth supporting? The only real impediment to your raising the money you need is overcoming the fear of personal embarrassment But it's extremely difficult to offend a person by asking him or her for money. This is not to say that the people you ask will necessarily say yes, but in virtually all cases, the worst they will do is say no. A surprisingly high percentage will say yes if asked and asked correctly. Fundraising, like sales, is essentially a numbers game. Ask a certain number of people to contribute, and a certain percentage will say yes and the remainder will say no ("I'll think about it" or "Maybe later" qualify as "no" answers). Therefore, the ideal way to raise money successfully is not to worry about people who have already said no, but to concentrate on finding others who will say yes. Why People Donate People give money, in descending order, for shared relationships, fear of pain, or shared values. Your shared relationship donor list should include, in roughly descending order, relatives, friends, business associates, your Christmas card list, neighbors, members of organizations you are active in, candidates you have contributed to, your high school and college classmates, owners of stores you patronize, and everyone you have written a check to in the last several years. In other words, you are going to ask everyone you know or have known. For these people you will stress the relationship, not the philosophy, in your pitch to solicit dollars. Fear is a wonderful motivator. Al Capone is rumored to have said, "You can get a lot more with a kind word and a gun, than you can with a kind word alone." If you can make potential donors feel a gun is pointed at them to take away their property, reproductive, gun or other rights, and that their life and the future of humanity depend on their making a contribution now, you will have donations. If this sounds like overkill, think for a moment about how much money TV preachers take in and why. Letting people know that you share and are actively promoting their values will also translate into funds. Single-issue organizations are where many of your long term donors will come from. This type of appeal does stress philosophy, but in an active, demonstrable way. If you can combine all three motivators, you have a sure bet Other Key Points An integral part of your fundraising program is a "Thank You" mechanism. Every contributor, no matter how small, should receive a thank-you note as soon as possible. If the number of contributors is too large, prepare a form thank-you letter (sign it personally) to be sent to small contributors, but maintain a personal response for large ones. The most likely contributors are those who have already given, and the higher the original contribution, the higher the next one is likely to be. If you can show your prospect that his contribution has already made a significant difference, it is relatively easy to ask for another: "Your $100 really helped get us on the ballot. Now that we're on, we need to open a headquarters and start the campaign. Would you be willing to double your earlier contribution?" Always ask for specific amounts of money, and don't be afraid to shoot high. A good place to start is with your estimate of 3% of the person's income. If you know a prospect has already given $50, chances are he's likely to be able to give $100, so ask him for it. If he can't he'll tell you, but he won't be offended. Conversely, if you don't ask for a specific amount, the prospect will never give as much as he can afford; he'll give the least possible amount. Publicly recognize your contributors whenever possible. If your campaign has a newsletter, run a list of contributors. Read off the names of your contributors at events. It's not necessary to mention the amounts, although it's not bad to do so with generous contributors so long as you have their permission in advance. Use specific expenses which need to be paid for: "We need money for the campaign" is far less persuasive than "We need $400 for brochures" or "We need $1000 for yard signs." Make contributors feel that they have made the difference in purchasing key items or services: "Your $25 contribution will buy us one radio ad on WZYX." Donors prefer to contribute toward visible action items, such as TV ads, or to file a lawsuit fighting discrimination against an LP candidate. Asking for money for overhead items such as a headquarters or phone bill is less "sexy" and is usually a mistake. The more personal an appeal is, or appears to be, the more likely it is to succeed. The ways of raising money, in order of their effectiveness, are: #.Face to face solicitation by the candidate. #.Telephone solicitation by the candidate. #.Face to face solicitation by finance committee members. #.Telephone solicitation by committee members. #.Group appeals at events. #.Group event sales. #.Hand addressed, hand signed direct mail. #.Obviously bulk rate direct mail. Personal Solicitation "Money comes in direct proportion to the amount of time the candidate spends fundraising. The candidate should fundraise three hours a day five days a week. Fundraising comes before the chicken and the egg!" :Cathy Allen, President of Campaign Connection, and consultant on more than 80 winning campaigns. Facing someone, explaining why the money is needed, and asking him directly for it will, in the long run, yield the highest contributions from the greatest percentage of people. If it is possible to identify every potential contributor to your campaign and approach that person for money on a one-on-one basis, you should do so. You will need to develop two distinctly different pitches, one for relationship donors, and the other for shared value donors. Of course for some people you will combine elements of both. The themes from these pitches should also be used in phone and mail fundraising, and, in the case of shared value donors, should relate to your over-all campaign message. With relationship donors, you are not out to convert them to Libertarianism. Play up the relationship instead. Your script should go something like: "Dad, good news. You've always encouraged me to get involved, to try to make a difference. Well, I'm running for the state legislature, and I need my family's backing. I want you to give me (3-5% of their gross income, or double the highest donation you know of that they have ever given to another candidate or charity)." A pitch for a businessman you spend money with might go like: John, you've been my doctor for 8 years now, and I've spent hundreds of dollars with you. I want you to know it's been worth every penny for your good service. You know I'm running for state representative. I'd like to ask you to spend some money with me. Will you write me a contribution of (2-3% of gross income) for my campaign?" After you ask for a specific amount, SHUT UP. It is the donor's turn to respond. The next 15 seconds while you are waiting for an answer will seem like an eternity, but keep quiet. If you talk first after the specific request, you'll lose dollars. DON'T say "please give $500.00 or whatever you can afford." This gives the prospect an out, and is a big mistake. If (when) you get excuses or objections, listen to the donor's reasons, and repeat them back to the prospect, if possible with a sympathetic anecdote: "Yeah, I know how hard it is to send kids to college. I've got two youngsters in private schools myself." Then answer their objection: "But just think how much more affordable it would be for both of us if we could get the government out of the education business. That's exactly why you should contribute to my campaign." You have answered their objection in a way that steers the conversation back to areas of agreement. Be a good listener, and don't interrupt. Ask at least three times. Use a different hook each request And don't go down too quickly on the amount you ask for. Let them know what others are giving to the campaign. If they say no three times, ask once more for an amount that anyone can give. If they can't give anything, ask for their advice, for their time, and if it is all right to call back at a later date. Get the check now. Don't settle for a pledge, settle for a contribution. Try to remove any excuses they have for delaying the donation. If they don't have their checkbook with them, ask, "what time tomorrow can I send someone by to pick it up." Thank them profusely. And send them a written thank you also, as soon as possible. Telemarketing Most of the advice for face to face solicitation also applies to telephone appeals. While you can't look your prospect in the eyeballs, you're still conveying a very personalized request. A small number of people can contact a large number of prospects this way; generally speaking, a list of 20 or 25 names is not an excessive demand for a telephone fundraiser, which means that four people can contact a list of 100 prospects in one or two evenings of calling. The candidate should concentrate on calling family, friends, high end donors, and previous donors. Use peers or other volunteers to call lists that are "colder." One good trick is to use two or three assistants to the candidate during phoning sessions. The assistants give the scripted message to the prospects, then the candidate gets on the phone to close the sale. Never let the candidate call alone. The peer pressure of a group is needed for successful volunteer telefundraising. Here's a hot tip to combine your telemarketing efforts with your mail fundraising into a dynamic, coordinated, and highly personalized program. 1. Personalizing each letter with the prospect's name in the greeting and again in the P.S. is best. 2. The P.S. will read, "I'll be calling you next Thursday between 5:00 and 9:00 P.M. to get your input and advice on my campaign." 3. Mail your letters out 50 at a time to be called in one 3 to 4 hour time slot. This sets up the prospect to expect to give, and really impresses them with your level of organization, also prompting a donation. Most importantly, it locks the candidate into doing the calls that are so critical to a successful fundraising plan. The candidate should be able to call 15 prospects per hour, connect with 7, and get money from 4. With a $40.00 average donation you should raise $500.00 per shift from your prime list. Special Events Group solicitations are the third most powerful. By this is meant situations such as banquets, cocktail parties, etc., where a group request is made. These can be tremendous successes or total failures depending upon the kind of pitch that is made and the advance preparation and follow-up. Absolute minimum requirements include a skilled "pitch" person, response cards and/or envelopes distributed to everyone in attendance before the pitch is made, and collectors to circulate around the room picking up checks and pledges immediately after the pitch. Special events which involve the selling of goods or services, such as garage sales, bake sales, car washes, etc. can be successful once people have been drawn to the event and understand that they're not there just to buy the cute little lamp but to contribute to a political campaign. Banquets or parties which have an admission price far above the cost of the food or beverages fall generally into this category; again, the trick is to get people there. In general, you will make more money for the campaign for the amount of time invested with other forms of fundraising.